Notebook: The 18, Trapp And More

The 18 players to make the season-opening trip for the Crew look to be the same who will face
Vancouver on Saturday afternoon.

When I caught up with head coach Robert Warzycha on Sunday after a 3-0 win against Chivas the
night before, he said the team was unlikely to fly any players from Columbus to join the team on
the West Coast. Yesterday, technical director Brian Bliss said that remains the case.

“I think the idea was to wait and see for after that Chivas game if there was an injury or
something in that regard or something they saw when they scouted Vancouver,” he said. “It doesn’t
look like there’s anything needed there so I think the same guys will make the trip.”

The first team has spent the week training in Los Angeles and will leave tomorrow for Vancouver.
The Crew’s reserves have trained at SuperKick in Lewis Center, Ohio, this week due to inclement
weather.

Rookie forward Ryan Finley made his MLS debut against Chivas as a second-half substitute for
Jairo Arrieta. The first-round draft pick recorded three shots including one on goal and suffered
two fouls.

“I think he handled the pressure pretty well and he did what we told him to do before he got on
the field,” Warzycha said.

TrappAs I wrote in today’s paper, Wil Trapp is back training with the Crew after
spending most of the last month with the United States U-20 national team. Not only was Trapp named
to the Best XI team for his performance, but he showed some offensive skill with a goal just before
the half against Canada.

It made the score 3-1 and essentially put the game out of reach. The Americans went on to win
4-2.

“It was one of those things that it was right before halftime,” he said. “I struck it pretty
sweetly and I got the deflection, which helped. I think the keeper was going the right way, but who
cares. It went in in the end.

“I don’t really score very often. When it went in, it wasn’t disbelief. In the middle of the
moment, I was just extremely excited. I almost couldn’t believe it went in, and then I saw it hit
the back of the net and I took off. My teammates were surrounding me and it was a great feeling,
especially to do it in that game. 2-1, you don’t really know. 3-1, you could see the Canadian
players shrink down a little bit after that, especially right beore halftime. It was like the
dagger.”

Bliss said Trapp’s ability to quickly adapt to his teammates helped him become a steady
contributor during the tournament.

“I would classify Wil as a student of the game,” he said. “He observes a lot and memorizes a
lot. He looks at the players he plays with and sees what their tendencies are and then he tries to
fill in around them. I think his biggest asset is he’s kind of the glue in the midfield for us
because he’s got a conscience and has good anticipation of what could happen. In that regard, he
allows the guys to play further up the field, to do what they do best and be a little
individualistic and creative because Wil’s a good reader and anticipator of the game and can
compromise his game to let those guys do their thing.”

Finalizing rosterThe Crew remains at 29 players, with the final spot set to go to a third goalkeeper. On March
3, draft pick Daniel Withrow posted on Twitter that he was “finally settling down in my Columbus
apartment…good feeling.” No contract with Withrow has been announced, but Bliss said it is likely
just a matter of procedure.

Asked if the Crew was waiting on paperwork, Bliss said, “Yeah, pretty much that’s the case. It
never goes as quick as you think it’s going to go. He’s one of the last guys. We know we need a
keeper.”

However, Bliss also said the Crew is working out Cleveland State product Brad Stuver, who was
drafted by Montreal but not signed.

“He’s been training with us as well,” he said. “I think we’re close in getting something done.
We’re still waiting on a couple of things.”